Page 5 of Tangled Sails

I shook my head. “I don’t know her name.” I’d started calling her Melody in my head because she’d sung to me. That was how I’d known it was a woman even before I saw her face. The sound of her voice had entranced me. “But I want to find her, to thank her at the very least.” She’d brought me close to shore and pushed me forward so I could drag myself onto the sandy beach. When I’d turned back, I’d been shocked to see the woman still half submerged, fire-red hair dancing in the water around her. She’d sung a few more notes, the tune sounding like a farewell, and in the few seconds it took to rub the water from my eyes, she’d disappeared.

“And you think we’ll find her in the ocean?” Harlan looked both confused and awed. “Are you saying…”

I shrugged, unwilling to say it out loud. None of us had ever seen one with our own eyes, but the rumors were rampant.

And how else could Melody have disappeared so completely unless she was a—

“Mermaid!” The shout rang out from the crow’s nest.

I looked up to see Jenkins pointing out at the ocean, and my heart shot into my throat.

I ran.

LYRIELLE

There was a loud noise. Blackness surrounded me. Cold enveloped me. Water shot up my nose.

Water? What was happening? I kicked against the wetness around me, shocked and terrified and unable to breathe. How was I in water?

I clawed at the wetness, trying to remember what my father had taught me about swimming. When I finally broke the surface and gulped in air, my lungs constricted in spasms as I coughed and tried to breathe despite the freezing water. I pushed down, hoping to keep myself up. I’d only tried to swim once, and that had been nearly ten years ago. Lifting my chin to keep my nose further from the water, I strained to see around me, but there was nothing except waves of inky blackness, tipped by ribbons of moonlight that reflected off the water.

But what water? Why was I in water? I’d been falling and there had been nothing but hard ground below me. I looked around for land, but there was none. Was this what death looked like? Cold, endless water? What if—

My head was tugged back, and I gasped one deep breath before the weight of my hair and the rolling waves pulled me under the surface again.

I was going to die. Auntie had been right. Freedom did have a price.

The water tugged at my braid, pulling me deeper.

Just as my lungs screamed and I felt I couldn’t keep myself from trying to breathe any longer, something caught under my arm. A branch? A rope? A hand? Was there someone else in the water with me? I was now being dragged through the water. But dragged where? Up? Or down?

Air hit my face again and I gasped for breath, flailing around until my hands latched on to the shoulders of a man who was in the water with me, his face stunned but determined.

“I’ve got you,” he shouted as he secured me to his side. “Don’t fight or you’ll pull us both under.”

I coughed and sputtered, desperate for more air, but tried to do as he asked. As I clung to his neck and did my best to convince myself that I was not on the verge of death anymore, I could feel him kicking and using one arm to pull us through the water. My eyes darted around, trying to make sense of this impossible situation. My whole body shook with terror and with cold, but the warmth of the man I clung to anchored me just enough that I was able to focus. A large shadow loomed above us, and after several moments, the shadow took the shape of a ship; that must have been where the man had come from.

I looked up at the railing , where several faces peered over the edge.

“Do you need assistance, Highness?” one man hollered down at us.

“No. Stand by,” the man holding me yelled back.

“It’s a mermaid, it is!” another shouted from above. “Tritan has blessed us with one of his daughters.”

A ladder made of rope hung down the side of the ship, and the man reached out with his left hand to take hold of the first rung, his right arm still firmly anchored around my waist.

I continued to cling to him, shaking and frantic.

“Grab hold of the ladder, miss.” I looked at him, frightened and unsure, but his eyes were kind and encouraging. “You can do it.”

I nodded and, with great effort, managed to release him with my right hand and latch onto the closest rung.

“Well done. Now pull.”

Working together, we were able to pull our upper bodies out of the water. My arm shook with the effort, even though I was certain that he did most of the work.

While his right forearm kept me anchored to his side, he reached out with his right hand so he could hold the ladder while his left hand moved up to the next rung. “Now you. Move your hand up. Good. Pull.”